


A Light in Moonbrooke

by RedRabbitWriting



Series: Dragon Quest Drabbles [1]
Category: Dragon Quest Builders (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Spoilers, moonbrooke, writer is salty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 19:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20413066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRabbitWriting/pseuds/RedRabbitWriting
Summary: When the world is against you, trust in your friends to be there till the end.-A "how I wish it had gone down"





	A Light in Moonbrooke

Its another cold night in Moonbrooke, even through Erdrick’s flame. While it wasn’t uncommon for the builder to work through the nights since they had arrived, Malroth hadn’t seen her or found any sign of building for a few hours.

She wasn’t in the kitchen, work room or even the small bedroom she’d made for the two of them. Wandering the grounds he eventually found her in the light of a torch behind a quiet and crumbling part of the castle. She was hunched up over her building book, flicking through its pages and making notes. He leaned over a low part of the wall, watching her for a moment.

“So that’s where you’ve been hiding. Can’t sleep?” he asked. Lina startled before relaxing at the sight of her best friend. She smiled at him though it seemed, off.

“Oh Malroth, it’s just you,” she said, her odd smile seeming to crack and waver. “No I’m fine, just needed some quiet,” She paused, looking away. “I was thinking about what you said. About my traps, about them replacing you…” She seemed to shrink into herself then. “Nothing could ever replace you. Meeting you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

A wave of hurt and anger washed over him at the memory, but he pushed it back. Malroth crouched down in front of her, gently taking the book and setting it aside.

“I’m … sorry I said it like that,” he said softly, but inside something twisted. He reached out and placed a hand on her knee. “But we need to work together if we’re going to get through this.”

She looked up, teal eyes meeting red for a long moment, and suddenly, as if a dam had broken, she began crying, all the tension and frustration she had carefully hidden away pouring out.

“I hate this place! I’ve never hated anything in my life but I hate here! I hate this stupid war and these people with their stupid suspicions. I hate that all I seem to make are weapons. I hate the way they treat you. We would have lost every battle without you! You’ve done nothing but help and protect them, and still! And still …” she faltered off, covering her face and sobbing quietly.

Malroth was frozen for a moment, still caught up in his own emotions and unsure how to react to his friend who was normally an unending fountain of optimism. He moved to sit next to Lina, close enough to touch shoulders, and let her cry, let the tension between them drift like the smoke from the torch. Eventually sobbing turned to hiccups and tiredness, and Lina rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in his comforting scent .

“We don’t have to stay you know. It’s not like we owe them anything.” he said softly.

“I thought about that,” She mumbled. “This can’t be the only island with fighters. I’m sure Brownbeard could find somewhere else if we asked. And I’ve learnt a lot of things that could help back home.” They were both quiet again, watching the flickering shadows dance across the stonework. “Warwick asked me to build something,” Her voice quiet. “But I have this feeling that if I do it, something terrible is going to happen,” She tensed, feeling tears she couldn’t cry trying to form. “Ever since we came back from the Scare Force mission I’ve felt like I’m standing on a cliff and the ground is slowly crumbling away, but I can’t move. I don’t know what to do.”

Malroth hummed in thought. “What did he want?”

“A dungeon…”

“I’m not surprised with all the trust issues around here,” He said dryly. She looked up at him. “but, … the way I see it, the most likely outcomes if you build it are either, it satisfies his paranoia and everything keeps going, or everyone just gets more paranoid and I have to resist the urge to bash a few heads together. But if things really do go belly up, we may have to fight our way out,” He smirked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. “Think you could take on a whole castle?”

Looking at him now, in the soft light, with a mischievous look on his face, Lina relaxed for the first time in what felt like days, and a small genuine smile crept onto her face.

“With you by my side? Always.”

They sat together till the cold crept in, before returning, side by side to their shared room to rest.

And then morning came…

Over the next few days they fell back into a more comfortable routine of work, patrol, eat and sleep, with the odd monster attack thrown in. In the end Lina finished the dungeon, Malroth beside her as she put the final bars in place. That evening at dinner she couldn’t hide the shiver that ran through her whenever she thought about it.

And then morning came…

As was normal these days, Lina woke to find Malroth’s bed empty. He was an early riser and had taken to patrolling the walls before people woke up. As Lina made her way to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast, she ran into Anessa.

The captain saluted her. “Ah Lina, I was hoping to catch you early. Could you perhaps make a stockpile of about 100 castle walls? We seem to be rebuilding them a lot recently.” Lina hummed thinking about how much marble she still had.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, but I need to gather more material first. Let me go grab Malroth and I’ll head out.” she said, about to turn to find her friend.

“I believe Warwick said something about taking Malroth on a short scouting expedition, heavens knows why with his recklessness. You could be waiting a while and I would feel much more secure knowing we have repair materials on hand.” Lina had to fight her smile from slipping.

“Oh ok, I should manage myself then, say hi for me when they get back.” Anessa nodded and the two parted ways.

…….

Malroth was fuming. Returning to the castle from his morning wanderings he had been greeted to what seemed like every sword in the castle, except for one. It took all of his restraint not to lash out at the guards as he was marched to the new dungeon cell. Things had definitely gone belly up. But where was Lina? No one had answered any of his questions, simply repeating that he was to much of a threat to be left to roam the castle. That seemed like hours ago. No one had been down since and that god damn voice was back and nagging him again. He could break out if he wanted to, they’d let him keep his club oddly enough, and the only reason he hadn’t was to show that he was the reasonable one.

But where was Lina? She’d said from the beginning she was worried about this build, and he had encouraged her to do it. Was she hiding? Had she known he was going to be imprisoned and was too ashamed to be there? Would she ask him to stay in here, to keep the townsfolk happy? Would she abandon him to this isolated existence until he was deemed needed again? Would she –

There was shouting coming from above. A monster attack maybe? Well lets see how the bastards faired without him then. Every last one of them could choke for all he car-

“_MALROTH_!” Lina? She was here? What was wrong? He’d never heard her like that. The sound of clashing blades and more shouting and – BOOM – was that an explosion? “_Let me through_!” More sounds of fighting and chaos.

“_Out of my way_!” Someone was running down the stairs. As a pair of familiar twintails turned the corner, a spark of hope rose in his chest. It was Lina, she was here, and she looked like a mad woman, radiating so much fury even he was unnerved.

“Stand away from the bars, we’re leaving.” With a mighty heave, Lina swung her war hammer and brought it crashing through the cell wall, reducing it to rubble and twisted metal. He stood speechless as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him from the cell and up the stairs. The castle walls she had worked so hard to rebuild were punctured with holes, but before he could process the destruction, he was being pulled once again, this time through a series of holes in the walls and into the cold winter air.

He could hear the sound of the army trying to follow them, but it was quickly fading against Lina’s speed. He thought his arm might pop out its socket, but he kept running, following Lina through the forest. They kept running until she finally seemed to lose steam, finally slowing down, but her grip on him never loosened. Eventually they stopped at the remains of a rundown cabin. Only then did Lina let him go, both collapsing to the floor in a heap, panting heavily.

“How could they?” her voice like venom as she beat at the floor. “How could they?! We trusted them! And they do this!” Malroth knelt beside her shaking form. Running on instinct, he pulled her onto his lap, just holding her. In turn she clutched him like a drowning man, sobbing into his shoulder.

“You came for me.” he whispered, starting to realise how foolish he had been to doubt their friendship.

“Of course I did you dummy,” she sobbed. “As if I would do anything else, you’re my best friend. I won’t lose you.” Whatever crazed spirit had possessed her finally seemed to vanish. Her body going limp like a doll as exhaustion kicked in. “Let’s go home.” she murmured as she passed out.

Malroth sat there thinking, as his builder (who had just pissed off an entire castle to break him out of prison) rested in his arms. He had a feeling this wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot, and they still had a bunch of other problems to solve. But in this moment, it felt like maybe everything would work out in the end. He breathed deeply, watching his breath mist in the air.

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this raw after finishing Moonbrooke. I knew it was coming but it still hurt. Cross-posted on tumblr :)


End file.
